Any novel or home brew car lift ideas?

[Coupefan]

I've watched some interesting videos on YouTube on all these homegrown methods of using both commercially purchased (jack stands on solid block boxes, etc) and homemade devices/stands to get cars off the ground as much as 48". Anyone have any interesting methods they would like to share? If I could safely get the X about three feet of the ground, it would be perfect.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

The first one comes from a You-Tube video....just before it failed:

The next idea is from parents of an exceptional child. Kind of negates the whole concept of every kid deserves a trophy just for participating:

Then there is the intelligent use of the surrounding landscape:

How it's done in Arkansas:

What they teach in the tech schools:

And some other less interesting ideas:

 

[rocco79/138]

I like the Jenga Camaro! A lot! I am in a place with lots of slanted ground I was thinking about setting a couple 6x6s and doing a drive up one side system. In other words half what you see at a car dealership... You drive on to work the rt side and back on to work the left side. You need a spot that would work in your favor like many sloped spots here half the car stays on Terra firma the other drives up the ramp system.
I will let you know if I go there.
Regards

 

[kmead]

I do like the wooden ramps with extended platform. Some of those others not so much...

 

[Dr.Jeff]

I do like the wooden ramps with extended platform.

I saw a few variations on that theme:

However most of those appear to have quite a lot of material and labor involved. Given the cost of wood, I'd take a look into something like this...they can be purchased for around $1000.

Sure seems a LOT safer, more versatile, easier to store, and might not be that much more cost than all of the wood (not to mention the time/labor).

 

[carl]

Yea, my daughters are always asking me to build small tables and headboards for them and it's shocking how quick the price of wood adds up. For tables I now tell them to go to IKEA, it will be cheaper. I like the ramps with the built in lights, very sexy.

 

[Coupefan]

That setup with the red Alfa, I already own something similar. It's huge. It's heavy. I have to store it at work in the warehouse, the only place with enough real estate to store it. It's a pain to sling it back and forth, hence the reason for any new and novel ideas.

 

[Cougar72]

The one on alfa is way too solid - you could build the same thing with 75% less weight and just as strong --- 50% less would be stupidly easy - just take out every other board in the stack and put in horizontally placed 2x2s every 6 inches, of course still having a stub piece of the 2x8 ( or 2x12) at every ramp step - possibly a few pieces of 2x2 inside the stack longitudinally as well to really make it stable for drive on/off Much lighter much cheaper - (sort of a combo of jenga Camaro and alfa picture)

I also have a pair of the old rusty standard steel ramps - had them for decades now - hate them - in general have never been very successful driving up on them - so mostly I jack up the car first and slide them under. just cant make myself throw them in my iron scrap pile- sigh

If I made some out wood (similar to alpha pic) they really would not take up that much more room when stored on end than my stupid steel ones that I am always tripping over.

BEST PLAN FOR ME:
I have 4 high lift floor jacks and that really does work pretty good!! So much flexibility/ adjustability / positioning - I also can just push the car around once it is up on all corners -( like a set of car casters) and THAT is a huge feature that a ramp or stand cant do I can store the car near the wall and just pull it straight out when I work on it.

You can get 4 very nice floor jacks - out the door for less than 300 bucks ( Harbor FREIGHT) ---- Trust me you know you can find a use for 4 floor jacks! - Hell I used all 4 of them to jack up my deck and replace my vertical columns. - you cant do that with a car stand or a pile-o-wood set of ramps

Right now my ExxY has one under the oil pan and three others in the corners ( corner 4 has one of the stupid metal ramps) - while my tranny is out. And she is pushed up against the wall to boot!!!..... (yes I know they could bleed down although they never have) - I did put a couple other jack stands under it for safety while it is sleeping - awaiting its tranny to return

 

[Dr.Jeff]

it's shocking how quick the price of wood adds up

I already own something similar. It's huge. It's heavy. I have to store it at work in the warehouse, the only place with enough real estate to store it. It's a pain to sling it back and forth

These are the reasons I was thinking it might be best to spend a little more for a compact, portable, professionally built lift (something like the one pictured with the Rally car). There are several versions of this concept on the market, naturally prices vary widely so shop around. A few images from Google:

Some of the portable lifts shown above remind me of a large car jack that my dad had when I was a little boy. It had a hydraulic ram (like a big bottle jack) lifting a pair of arms (like short fork lift arms). It was placed under the bumper (front or rear) of the car to lift that end of the vehicle about 2.5 - 3 feet off the ground. And with two of them the entire car could be suspended in the air from it's bumpers...naturally bumpers were much more robust in those days. Although it no longer works, it is still sitting in a storage shed on our property. I've often thought about seeing if it could be rebuilt and configured to work with today's vehicles somehow.

If you own your property, intend to stay there awhile, and want something more permanent, then for not much more money you can buy a 2-post lift. Requires hard mounting into the foundation:

I fully understand budgetary concerns or other limitations. But building a large, heavy, wooden contraption that may not be safe and might cost more than you think, could be poor economy.

Perhaps another approach might be building tall stands to place the car on. First use a engine hoist ("cherry picker") to lift one end of the car high enough to place it on the stand(s). Then lift and support the other end likewise. The process is something like this:

The stand shown above is really TOO tall, but gives the idea. Or you can buy a pair (or two pair) of tall stands:

But I'll warn you, these tall stands are expensive. You could buy one of the portable lifts for the same money.
Hope all this gets your thoughts stirring.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

On the subject of raising the X1/9 for service work...

I have a old "jacking pad" designed for Porsche's that I modified to fit the X1/9 (had to shave down the post). It looks like this:

And works by sticking it into the jacking point for the stock "crank" jack, and using your floor jack, like this:

The balance point of the stock jacking point lifts both tires on that side of the car fairly equally. This is good for simple jobs; changing wheels/tires, brake service, strut work, etc. But it has limitations. First it cannot lift the side of the car much higher than clearing the tires off the ground, which is not a comfortable working height. Otherwise the piece starts to slide out of the jacking point. Second it can only be used on one side of the car at a time; you could not use two of them at the same time...the car won't balance correctly. But it is quick and handy for certain work, and won't damage the under-carriage from a poorly placed floor jack. I'm surprised I have not seen this available from any of our Fiat specialist vendors.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

I also can just push the car around once it is up on all corners -( like a set of car casters)

I fully agree with the versatility of jacks and stands. But I'm trying to picture how you control four floor jacks rolling about at the same time, much less keeping the car on them while pushing it around the garage. Not saying you can't...obviously you do, but it seems like floor jacks don't like to travel in any direction other than where ever they happen to be pointed. And getting all four to cooperate seems difficult at best. Unfortunately my (very old) floor jacks do bleed down, so I have to put the vehicle on stands after jacking it up. I should look into getting them rebuilt (too well built otherwise to replace them). Also wondering where under the X you place four jacks securely without damage to the under carriage, yet still able to maneuver them?

 

[Cougar72]

Jeff... Your right they do like to go in the direction they are pointed and this can be a tad problematic. I generally use the suspension anchor points. Or the box on the bottom of the engine crossmember. ( my factory jack points on the sides are only partially attached so I abandoned them -- but I love your Porsche pad). I come straight in from the front and back and once the car is up, I just grab the jack handle and pivot it to the side around and under the tires. ... I have 8 inch flat pivoting heads on the jacks - with disks of old tires vulcanized to them as cushions. Then on the wall side of the car I either remove the handles or put them straight up .... one hand pushing on the car and it just slides over straight ....seriously 20 lbs of pressure on the cars sail panel and it glides over.... Granted my shop has fairly smooth concrete. a good shove and I can also move it across a concrete joint! Sounds scary but I have never had a problem... I move my 1972 Mercury cougar, and my 76 FJ-40 the exact same way.. I can stack em in tight. Although on the Toyota you can pretty much do anything you need under there without any jacks. Night and day from the ExxY.

 

[lookforjoe]

Yikes! Some scary approaches to supporting cars there. Some of those "professional" scissor jacks look pretty hairy (and cumbersome) also.

I knida like the idea of the variant that supports the length of the sill weld lip, from an available work space perspective. Having worked on cars in shops with drive on ramps in the past, they are not only limiting in terms of access, but always provide nasty edges to smack your head on.

I would still feel like I would be taking my life in my hands if the car were not also supported by rigid stands, though. I'm sure I did many fool hardy repairs under poorly supported cars in my youthful days, I just can't recall .

Going off topic somewhat, I have used blocks of wood to slightly elevate my X1/9 - as when I was prepping for the engine/trans install....

.... but I switch to rigid tripod stands before I will get underneath for any real work.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Some of those "professional" scissor jacks look pretty hairy (and cumbersome) also.

I agree, I just grabbed a bunch of various examples from Google Image to give some ideas. Frankly I'm not certain how a couple of those actually work. But seeing different approaches helps to get new ideas about what will be best for me, so I hoped to do the same for "CoupeFan". And I reference any/all of the ready made items as "professional" to distinguish them from "home made".
Also fully agree about using jack stands for safety.

 

[Janis]

My dad made this thing ~30years ago.
It's very useful for underneath welding jobs. Holds BMW 7 series very well.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

For a home-made device that is a good design; three very widely placed points of contact, adjustable, simple, offers good access to the undercarriage, effective. Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

[motoTrooper]

I agree that's pretty cool.

 

[Janis]

Sorry if owner of this photo is here and sees that I stalked his facebook profile

 

[darwoodious]

wow... a LOT of load on the control arms.

I wonder what radiator that is?

 

[Dr.Jeff]

I wonder what radiator that is?

My guess is VW Mk1. Both hoses on right side, aluminum core/plastic tanks, 12" tall X 28" wide.